".....And these are all the commissions that ought to be completed by the week. Quite a handful indeed, but I trust that I can leave these up to your party.," answered a man in a deep, raspy voice.
"..."
Silence filled the room as two adventures opposite him looked at him with disbelief. One, however, looked noticeably more agitated.
"..sigh..
Sir, may I ask if we can receive aid from other guild members with all these..?," inquired a woman, with indeniable distress. "I believe we would need to do atleast two a day to get them complete with the deadline."
That man,the two people's current employer, scoffed it off only by continuing with:
" My apologies, but we are currently short-staffed. If you want to complete it by the following week, start with these commissions from today."
The woman, looked at her own colleague with hatred ravaging her whole face, then sighed.
" Fine. We will." quickly stood from her place, taking the parchment that was I his hands.
Now, with the list in front of them we scanned through it, but one thing caught by eye. That is-how high ranking they were.
'We aren't even B grade adventurers, yet we have to do these subjugations which are only done by well-seasoned employees?,' the other employee thought to himself.
He couldn't help but wonder if their boss is really that desperate on getting rid of them.
After all, the list was long. The thing was two pages filled to the brim for higher-ranking members of the guild they were a part of. It felt as if they were child was sent on the battlefield. Not literally, of course, because that is illegal.
But skimming through the list only gave them false hope. One after other, it felt as if their fate was certain. They could only help but choose one, that was on their level. It read as follows:
'Investigate strange noises heard from the forest near the town.[D rank]
It is believed to be the work of bandits, since the forest's only habitants are rodents and insects. It is advised to stay alert and if necessary a Knight will be dispatched to help the adventurers.'
"How about this one?" The man pointed towards it, asking for his partner's opinion.
"Hah. This one?" She muttered through her frustrations. Pure rage was still visible from her eyes, like a war ready to engulf any second.
" Dont you think its best if we complain to the civil servant's department in the city?" Rada hushed.
" We're trying to keep a roof over our head. Do you think they will even do anything after filling their pouches with coins?" He replied, still in a low tone.
" If you even complain about how tired you are of this ...." paused and took a quick glance of her employer, then continued:" ... human person after this, I will sell your body to a necromancer for a copper coin..." was heard in a low, menacing voice...
It was obvious to the whole company that the man in front of them was not of good character. As he was infamous for the blatant nepotism to get into the position he is in currently, not one thing could be done to stop the exploitation. It was either comply or resign.
Nobody wants to end up on the streets, now do they? So it was more like comply was the only option.
"Thank you, sir. We have already chosen our quest for this afternoon.We will be heading out," the man told to his superior.
"Farewell. I shall see you in Wednesday when we have our monthly meeting, correct?"
"Yes," Rada responded and abruptly went for the exit. A very common occurance for her, indeed. To leave her poor colleague behind, does she not have any manners?
He followed her as she made her way through the crowd in the building. As he looked around, everything seemed normal yet that bastard claimed them short-staffed? It was utterly ridiculous!
The scorching sun had finally hit after leaving that suffocating building. The streets weren't as full as the building, probably because of the unbearable heat. Not only that, but the Sun's rays were irritating to the eye. Putting hands on his forehead to relieve his eyes from what just happened, he looked ahead.
There he saw a short lady with ginger hair, tied messily in a bun. Her rosy skin, filled with scars, served as proof of her time as an adventurer, and her brown eyes made contact with his.
"What are you looking at?" She asks as she makes her way to sit next to a tree.
"Are you going to sit there like a statue and get sunburnt? Get over here!"
"I don't feel like dealing with sunburns," he answer. "I already have a headache to deal with."
"Totally your fault. I mean," she exclaimed while lying on the ground" who in their right mind would drink on a Sunday ?"
" It wasn't my fault," he argued back.
"Still. You could've just said no. Miro wouldn't have looked like that had you decided to be the bigger person. Poor Miro looked so awful, Im surprised he didnt get alcohol poisoning."she chuckled.
Another colleague was brought up in the conversation. Poor thing was pressured into drinking more than he could handle.
"Miro looked like a half-undead. So much so, I don't think any potion will be able to help that kid!" she stated as she scratched her head.
The cogs in her head trying to formulate a plan or even a simple idea, probably not slacking off for the first time in her life.
"Hey! How about we...